Attendees at the Defend Rural America meeting in October walk past an oversized bucket calling on Siskiyou County residents to fight state and federal government plans to remove dams and exert water rights to improve salmon populations in the Klamath River. In the latest salvo in what is becoming an increasingly heated debate, the U.S. Department of Interior sent a letter to Siskiyou County officials rejecting claims that the federal government has broken laws in its plans to remove four dams on the Klamath River.

The Department of Interior has sent a letter to Siskiyou County officials rejecting their claims the federal government has violated laws pertaining to plans that could lead to the demolition of four dams on the Klamath River.

In a letter delivered Friday to the county's supervisors, John Bezdek, special adviser to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's chief of staff, also denied his bosses had come to a foregone conclusion that dam removal is a good idea and that federal regulators haven't included the county in the environmental review process.

"In short, we have met with the county every time you have asked for a meeting and we will continue to do so throughout the entirety of this process," Bezdek said.

His letter includes a 1½ page list of the nearly 30 times the Interior Department has spoken with county officials since 2010.

"While I am disappointed we have been unable to resolve our differences on certain issues, I am not disappointed in the efforts of the federal team to engage the county," he wrote.

Supervisor Michael Kobseff said Bezdek's letter is another example of how federal officials are trying "to work backwards" to appease the county while continuing to move ahead with plans to tear down the dams against the county's will.

He said while he credits Bezdek for coming to Siskiyou County to "take the bullet and pacify us," his county's concerns continue to be ignored.

Last year, the dam's owners joined more than 40 groups, including some farmers above the dams, fishing associations, Indian tribes and environmentalists, in signing an agreement exploring removing the dams.

The county's voters overwhelmingly voted in the last election condemning the plan. County officials say they worry tearing down the dams would be detrimental to the environment, the economy and local power generation, risks federal officials continue to downplay.

"We have the facts," Kobseff said. "They have an agenda."

Kobseff points to a September speech Salazar gave in San Francisco.

Even though he said he was still gathering input on the dam removal plans, President Barack Obama's natural resources chief called those who oppose the plans "naysayers" intent on derailing a hard-fought deal.

County officials also contend the federal regulators have a legal obligation to coordinate with them as they hash out and implement their plans.

In his letter, Bezdek rejected those claims, saying the county is misinterpreting a law that applies only to the Bureau of Land Management when that agency is discussing land-use changes.

"Simply put, our science and environmental process is about the potential removal of four privately owned dams on the Klamath River, something that is not a BLM resource management planning exercise," Bezdek said.

In his letter, Bezdek also notes the county has opted out of being a "cooperating agency" in the environmental review process and is misinterpreting other related laws.

Bezdek's letter comes a few days after the Department of Fish and Game's director sent local newspapers an editorial urging farmers' cooperation with fisheries regulators over irrigation practices on the Klamath's Scott and Shasta rivers tributaries.

DFG biologists contend the streams are being diverted by ranchers in dry years, harming threatened coho salmon that later swim down the Klamath.

The farmers say they have a right to use their deeded water and they doubt the diversions are draining creeks, something they say would happen in dry years even if they didn't irrigate.

Meanwhile, a water-use permitting program the DFG recently implemented is tied up in court. Environmental groups have sued the DFG, alleging it's not doing enough to enforce laws protecting fish.

The farmers have countersued, alleging the laws the DFG is suddenly enforcing don't apply to them.

"Make no mistake: passion runs high on these issues, distrust exists, and stakeholders from different perspectives are at odds about working with state and federal government," wrote DFG director Charlton H. Bonham. "But the current situation is not working. It isn't working for the department, farmers, ranchers or tribes, and it isn't working for salmon and steelhead. We must do better. We can do better."

Bonham pledged to be more open and transparent with all the parties involved in the debate and to work to better explain the science behind the DFG's policies, though he said those caught harming fish would continue to be subject to "compliance actions."

Supervisor Grace Bennett said Bonham's and Bezdek's letters did nothing to ease the county's mistrust or alleviate fears federal and state regulators are trying to enact policies that threaten the already struggling county's agriculture-based livelihood.

Bennett said the county and its farmers and ranchers have been working to improve streams and limit the harm to salmon since the mid 1980s.

"We have worked hard to follow the mandates that agencies have put forward but it never seems to be enough," Bennett said. "If we satisfy one agency's requirements, then another one comes along with something else."